Nyali lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling. So many questions ran through her head, but there was only one she kept coming back to: Had Maria killed Oogie's neighbor?
She tried to sleep, but everything kept her awake. Fear, excitement, theories, questions, random noises throughout the house- that really weren't threatening at all, maybe it was just paranoia itching away at her. She looked at the her watch.
9:13pm.
Oh, right. The watch stopped working a few days ago. She glances at her clock across the room.
11:16pm.
Her eyes wouldn't rest. It was a pain in the neck.
She then heard a soft thunk on the window, and sat up quickly, grabbing her flashlight from off of the end table. She pointed it at the window, while a girl covered her face to shield her eyes from the beam of light that cut through the darkness.
"Oh my god..." she muttered to herself, throwing her covers off and stumbling over to the window, dragging the girl in.
It was Maria.
She hugged Nyali tightly as she tried to close the window.
"HI" she whispered harshly, trying not to be too loud.
"What are you doing here?" Nyali hissed, turning to face her as she let go.
She paused.
"Well, I followed the address and I figured, hey, let's go to Nyali's new house to visit." she explained.
Nyali pressed her fingers to her temple.
"Maria, as much as I'd enjoy seeing you, 11 'o clock is not the time. I'm trying to get sleep."Nyali replied.
"Okay, maybe that isn't the only reason." Maria admitted, pulling a box out of a backpack she'd brought with her. She handed the box to Nyali, zipped up the backpack, and took a deep breath.
"I snuck into the police station." Maria began. "Whatever is in that box are the remains of all evidence from the case of my parents' disappearance. I can show you the spots tomorrow at school, if you go to George."
Nyali nodded, tucking the box under her bed for safe-keeping. She looked back at Maria, giving her a puzzled look.
"I do go to George, but I didn't see you." she said.
"I've been trying to get my life together, Nyali. Do you think I have time for school?" she said, rolling her eyes.
Nyali laughed a little."Dude, off topic, but what if we hadn't sent those pictures of each other that one time? It'd look like some random girl knocking on my window."
Maria laughed nervously. Something about the last comment, obviously made her uneasy.
"Well, let's just talk about this tomorrow. I'll let you look the evidence over. Get some rest." Maria said. And with that, she got up and left, shutting the window behind her.
Nyali waved, but Maria didn't look back.
And there was something about Maria that night that made her even more suspicious. Nyali had made her decision.
Nyali was going to take up Oogie's case.
These two cases had to be linked somehow.
-----------------------------------------------
